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What is a Beam Width, Beam Size, and a Beam Waist?

Ref.: encyclopedia articles on beam radius and beam divergence

Scientists as well as engineers are expected to communicate clearly, minimizing the risk of misunderstanding. Surprisingly, certain wordings, which constantly cause confusion, are very abundant in the scientific and technical literature. Some of those are related to the transverse extension of laser beams:

So my suggestion is to avoid a lot of confusion by making precise statements on all quantitative aspects of laser beams. Even in scientific papers, one all too often finds oneself in a situation where one has to construct sophisticated theories concerning what the author might have meant.

This article is a posting of the Photonics Spotlight. You may send comments and suggestions to RP Photonics Consulting GmbH. You may also link to this page, because its location is permanent. See also the Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology.

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